Has anyone managed to successfully replace just the lenses on their headlights? I see a set of new lenses available for $33.00 from an ebay seller.

 

Ive never seen it , just can't imagine getting them water tight.
You can order a set from rockauto.com for pretty reasonable,
BUTif you do replace the lenses, please give us some before and after pics.

 

I bought a set of headlight lens replacements for my ’08 King Ranch, and they work great. I picked them up on eBay last year for about $55, and they were just like the ones I replaced.

 

On my 2004 F-150, the headlight on the driver's side is almost perfect. The one on the right side is what you might call 'partly cloudy'. It still works okay at night and I can see just fine - but it looks kind of sad compared to the other one if you're standing in front of the truck. I have seen new aftermarket sets on line for as little as $50 for the pair. I know that some "modern looking" versions are out there too - with LEDs in them - but I'm okay with the OEM style. My truck is not a daily driver and only sees occasional use. Normally, it hibernates in the garage because we have other vehicles that serve as our daily drivers.

My fog lights still work (!), but they're honestly just ornamental lighting. People can probably see me more easily with them illuminated, but they don't throw out a ton of light.

For those of you who have replaced your headlight kits, was it easy to remove the old ones and install the new ones? My son got new headlights for his Honda Accord and he had a devil of a time trying to replace them. A friend of his who is a mechanic had to help him.

 

I have a red 2008 F150 STX and I replaced both light units with aftermarket ones off eBay. It was relatively easy to replace them in just a few steps. I went with the ones which are black inside the unit instead of chrome, and they look nice on my red truck since all the other accents on it are black. Quick synopsis: Remove the screws at the top of the rubber piece to the inside of the headlight and fold it out of the way to access 2 10mm screws holding the unit on, and one more screw at the top on the fender. A simple pulling motion gets the light out (you might need to use a plastic pry bar where the side marker light meets the fender to "pop" the light free where it is clipped in. Speaking of that clip, the ones on the lights I bought were not made of as tough a metal as the factory clips and bent when I tried to reinstall the lights, so save yourself that grief and carefully swap the stock clips to the aftermarket lights before reinstallation if you go that way. By the way, this is the process you will go through any time you replace a headlight, parking, or side marker bulb. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. I've had a lot of practice by trying different LED headlight bulbs, which I have given up on and went back to good quality halogen and/or xenon bulbs. Others have experienced what I have in that LED bulbs may result in weird operation of the lights, fog lights, and dimming functions.

 

I am likely going to stick with the stock halogen/incandescent light bulbs. On a 2004 truck, LEDs would probably not work all that well and installing LED/HID bulbs in old style housings often cause the light to be dazzling, too bright or not aimed properly. Nothing is more irritating to oncoming drivers than folks who put the brightest LEDs possible into standard plastic housings.

Great tip about the OEM clips vs the new ones. Definitely something to keep in mind. Thanks for the information!

 

I swapped out both headlight assemblies on my '08 F150, and it took about 20 minutes per light. It’s probably one of the easiest upgrades you can make on the truck, and the bulbs were included with the assemblies. The headlight assembly cost about $55 on eBay, and new lights can make a world of difference.
The guy who inspects my vehicles once told me about my old '88 F150, "I can't keep passing this because of those yellow headlights."

 

So it was $55 for a compete set - both sides - and that included the bulbs? That sounds pretty reasonable.

 

Yes, 2008 F150 King Ranch.